This page provides a framework for how to think about, structure, and present your research effectively.

The Entrepreneurial Mindset

The Entrepreneurial Mindset provides context for how a research project fits into the broader community by identifying three main things:

  • Opportunity
    • What is the unmet need we are trying to meet with our research?
    • Who are the stakeholders?
    • Are there any competitive solutions?
  • Research Design
    • How is this research designed to lead to a possible solution?
  • Impact
    • What is the possible value of the solution?

When looking to understand the opportunity, we can ask about applications of the project, the possible stakeholders who may care about the results, and the competing technologies for alternate solutions.

Forming Good Habits

While habits can be developed individually, they are reinforced in combination. The Entrepreneurial Mindset (EM) can be developed through intentional practice.

Curiosity: Fueling exploration and revealing opportunities

  • Inquisitiveness: Applies curiosity about our continuously changing world.
  • Contrarian Thinking: Explores alternative or disruptive views of current or accepted solutions.
  • Opportunity Seeking: Identifies trends and unmet needs to uncover new opportunities.
  • Experimentation: Constantly experiments and iterates to test new ideas and explore what-ifs.
  • Confronting Ambiguity: Fearlessly operates with care in complex and uncertain environments.
  • Future-Minded: Considers emerging trends in people, systems, and environments.

Connections: Integrating perspectives and driving innovation

  • Creativity: Integrates information from disparate sources to spark new ideas.
  • Systems Thinking: Recognizes interdependencies in systems and identifies leverage points.
  • Knowledge Synthesis: Combines ideas, information, and experiences to form new understanding.
  • Implications Thinking: Anticipates the long-term impacts and consequences of actions.
  • Strategic Thinking: Develops long-term strategies with clear milestones.
  • Risk Awareness: Proactively incorporates risk management into decision-making.

Creating Value: Delivering meaningful outcomes

  • Value Awareness: Focuses on solutions where extraordinary value can be created.
  • Customer-Centric Thinking: Frames efforts in terms of stakeholder’s actual needs.
  • Impact Thinking: Seeks outcomes that produce meaningful and scalable benefits for others.
  • Socially Minded: Prioritizes creating meaningful and positive societal impacts.
  • Persistence: Maintains resilience to achieve goals in the face of obstacles and failures.
  • Resourcefulness: Solves problems creatively with available resources.

SMART goals for structuring research

  • Specific: Is your goal concise and clear?
  • Measurable: How can you quantify your progress?
  • Achievable: Is this realistic for the timeline?
  • Relevant: Why are you setting this goal?
  • Timebound: What is the timeline?

Resilience In Research

  • Assertiveness: Being assertive in your own needs when communicating expectations in collaboration offers the opportunity for balanced work.
  • Adaptability: Failure is a big part of research, and recognizing its value is crucial. Plans may need to be adjusted to meet changing needs.
  • Resourcefulness: Recognize the tools and expertise available to you and your team and plan accordingly.
  • Confidence: This doesn’t mean always being right, but recognizing that you are still making progress even when you are wrong.
  • Don’t have to go it alone: You have a diverse team of people to lean on, and you can always ask for help.

Research Pitch

Sharing your work in a way that helps people understand why they should care:

  • Be familiar with the audience and their values
    • Who are the stakeholders?
    • Recognize audience backgrounds
    • What are their values?
      • What needs are most important to them?
  • Formulate ideas to resonate with your audience
    • Consider competition and the current state of the art
    • Why is your solution relevant to their specific needs?
  • Communicate approach
    • Experiment design
    • Technology used
    • Note any limitations

Keys to Data Visualization

  • Main Takeaways
    • What do the stakeholders want/need to know?
    • What is the desired outcome/action?
    • Create a convincing story
  • Determine core ideas and results
    • Provide evidence of both sides, supporting and opposing core ideas to provide the full picture
  • Best visual approach
    • Graphs and charts can be more intuitive/digestible than numerical tables
      • Bar graphs show comparisons
      • Line graphs show relationships between variables (x vs. y)
      • Pie graphs show parts of a whole
    • Color can be used to emphasize important information

Maximizing Impact

When sharing your work, think about:

  • What are your goals for sharing?
  • Look for groups that show the greatest interest
  • Highlight key findings

There are three key audiences to share your research with to maximize impact:

Academia

Your research is structured around a fundamental scientific question or hypothesis

  • Looking to:
    • Gain feedback
    • Find collaborators
  • Try:
    • Presenting at a poster session on campus
    • Publish a journal/conference paper with your mentor

The Public

Your research is structured around a community need

  • Looking to introduce ideas to:
    • Local Government
    • Corporations
    • Homeowners
  • Try:
    • Open science forums
    • Museum talks
    • Social Media

Industry

Your research is structured to develop a new technology with potential commercial value

  • Looking to:
    • Start a company
    • Design a new product
  • Try:
    • Pitch ideas to potential funders through competitions

Finally, revisit the goals you set using the entrepreneurial mindset to determine which of your results bring most value to your stakeholders. Research is often an iterative process that can lead to many different outcomes. Coming back to your initial goals can help ensure you stay on track, and reassessing those goals can help you identify new opportunities.

Much of the framework presented here was adapted from the KEEN Framework.